Court affirms that powers under Section 482 are only exercisable where an appeal is pending; Crl.M.C. was not maintainable.

O R D E R

Dated this the 29^th day of January, 2026 The Criminal Miscellaneous Case is filed to quash the conviction and sentence passed against the petitioner for committing an offence under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act , in C.C.No.605/2007 of the Court of the Judicial First Class Magistrate-I, Attingal, which was confirmed by the Additional Sessions Judge-I, Thiruvananthapuram, in Crl.Appeal No.142/2013.

2. Today, when the Crl.M.C was taken up for consideration, the learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner very fairly brought to the notice of this Court, the law laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Ramawatar v. State of Madhya Pradesh [2021 KHC 6641] , wherein the Hon’ble Supreme Court has succinctly held that the powers of this Court under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure /528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita are exercisable in post conviction matters only where an appeal is pending before one or the other Judicial forum. In light of the above enunciation of law, the Criminal Miscellaneous Case is not maintainable. Therefore, the petitioner may be permitted to withdraw this Crl.M.C, without prejudice to the right of the petitioner to file a Crl.Revision Petition challenging the concurrent convictions and sentences passed by the two Courts and seek for composition of the offences in view of the settlement arrived at between the parties and giving the petitioner the benefit of Section 5 of the Limitation Act , in view of the bona fide prosecution of this Crl.M.C, since 22.12.2022.

3. I find the above submission to be reasonable and justifiable.

In light of the above submission, this Crl.M.C is dismissed as withdrawn, but by reserving the right of the petitioner to work out his remedies in accordance with law and also seek the benefit of exclusion of the period of limitation in view of the bona fide prosecution of this Crl.M.C. Sd/-

C.S.DIAS, JUDGE NAB PETITIONER ANNEXURES ANNEXURE 1 THE TRUE COPY OF THE JUDGMENT IN CC NO.605/07 OF BY JFMC-1 ATTINGAL DATED